This invention relates generally to the art of handles and more particularly to a handle for a package of soap powder or the like.
Initially, packages of soap or detergent powder were sold without handles or carrying means of any kind. Since these packages tended to be heavy and bulky, transport by a consumer from the market to the home was often an onerous task. This pronounced problem in the marketing of soap and detergent powder soon led to the development of carrying handles for the packages. Typically, such handles were small plastic strips stapled or glued to the top of the package. These small handles functioned well until recent developments in the industry rendered them obsolete.
Detergent powder has, in the past, been puffed with air to lower its density. This was done not in an effort to exaggerate the amount of product, but was necessary due to problems of solubility. The detergent simply would not dissolve properly in household washing machines if sold at its natural density. Advances of late in the art have led to detergents which dissolve sufficiently at their natural density. It is anticipated that these new detergents will soon become the industry standard. As the new detergents are highly concentrated, however, precise measurements of the product are required with each wash. To facilitate this per-use measurement, some manufacturers have chosen to include with the packages of detergent a single washload measuring scoop. So that adequate access to the product may be provided for effective scooping, it has been found that the entire top of the package should hinged and opened as a flap. Upon opening, however, a handle on the top becomes useless.
Therefore, a handle constituting an elongated plastic strip and extending completely across the top of the package has been developed. Attachment of the handle to the sides of the package is achieved with rivets. While a handle usable with the new packages of concentrated detergent is so provided, significant limitations and disadvantages remain.
One of these disadvantages is in the shipping of the packages. The rivets protrude form the otherwise planar surfaces of the package. As such, fewer packages can be stacked and shipped together. This is the case both after the package is filled with detergent and before, when the package is an unfolded flat piece of cardboard or the like.
Furthermore, the riveting process has proven slow. As such, fewer packages are produced for a given period of time. This inefficiency adds to the overall cost of the product which the eventual consumer will have to pay.
The riveted handle has also been found to have an adverse environmental impact. Specifically, the rivets have been difficult to remove from the paper package when recycling of the paper has been desired. The riveted handle has therefore served to discourage the recycling of these packages.